When I was asked by BzzAgent if I wanted to join the Boston Market campaign it took me about 2.5 seconds to jump in. I mean really- a chance to try some great food for free. I”m all about that.
I know that some people enjoy the cooking part of Thanksgiving and more power to them. I like the hanging out with the family part of Thanksgiving and could do without the whole cooking part. Thankfully Boston Market is able to help out with this. They can take care of the hard part for you and with affordable meal plans it doesn’t break the bank. For instance you can order their Deluxe Buffet for only $9.99 per person.
What do you get for $9.99 per person? Here’s the breakdown:
-Choice of entrée: Boneless Roasted Turkey Breast, Boneless Ham, Rotisserie Chicken 11.99 if you want Beef Brisket)
-2 gourmet sides: Mashed Potatoes & Gravy and Sweet Corn
-Fresh Cornbread
-Assorted Apple Pie and Pumpkin by the slice (one slice per person)
-Includes set-up, paperware and serving utensils
They have several different buffet options which you can learn more about on their website.
After getting to try one of their dinners last night I can tell you that their food is really good. It’s hot and fresh worth the money to not deal with the hassle of cooking for a whole bunch of people.
The first two commenters today will get a coupon book full of great deals at Boston Market. Including one coupon for $3.00 a purchase of $6.00 or more.
If you’re interested in ordering a Boston Market Holiday Buffet you can save 10% off your order of $100 or more by using the special discount code: BZZAGENT.
For more things that people love check out The Diaper Diaries.
FCC disclosure: I was not paid to write this post, but I was given a coupon to try a free meal. I don’t get any money from anyone ordering anything at Boston Market.
I can’t sing. I can’t dance. I can’t play any musical instruments (despite the fact that I took piano lessons for 6 years, but that’s besides the point). One talent that I do have is taking things that are not great – sometimes even meant for trash- and turning them into things that make our house a home.
My husband and I are committed to living on a pretty tight budget so that doesn’t always leave money for decorating so I’ve had to become pretty creative and resourceful. One of my bigger feats was lugging four dining room chairs that were set out for bulk trash pick up across a big play ground to my car and home. You can read more about that here.
Once I got them home I asked Hubs to refinish them for me. We have a very common butcher block dining room table that we bought at a garage sale when we first got married (which we’re planning on refinishing too). I didn’t like 2 of the chairs that came with the table so we chunked them and built our own benches- on casters. Trouble is one of the benches is really really hard to move. It’s been like that for years. When I saw those chairs I knew that they were the answer to my problem. I could replace the 2 chairs that we currently had and take out the bench and use all four of the chairs that I recovered.
Here’s the before and after:
I’m not going to lie. If I had unlimited resources that’s not the chair I would pick out in a furniture store, but if it looks 100% better than what we currently have so it works for me.
Next up we have our master bedroom. We had a huge white dresser that I had had since high school. The thing was probably 15 years old. When we moved into our house I painted it white (it was a murky brown color) and swapped out the hardware so it looked decent, but it was just too big for our room. I saw this picture in a magazine and wanted to see if I could copy it with furniture we already had.
I feel like I came pretty close. I still need to buy some glass knobs for the smaller dresser, but I’m happy with how it turned out. I also decided to do my nightstand while I was at it:
And yes the ugly lamp is on my to-do list. I saw one at Target that I really like, but it’s $50 so I’m waiting for it to go on clearance.
The last project that I want to share if for those of you out there who think that you can’t do this sort of thing. Start small. Really small. I found these frames (there were two) at a garage sale and knew that they’d be perfect for my kid’s rooms.
I spray painted them with left over paint from previous projects, put the mats back in with pictures of my kids with their friends and now they’re hanging up in their rooms.
Garage sales, second-hand stores, flea markets, craigslist are great places to start looking for those little treasures that can really turn your house into a home. If you need help find some frugal decorating blogs (they’re a lot of very talented women out there) to help hone your eye and expand your mind as to what’s possible.
I have a confession to make. For the last 3 weeks I have not shampooed my hair. I decided to try something different I saw on one of my favorite blogs- Simple Mom. She said that she gave up “poo” for baking soda and water and apple cider vinegar and water (conditioner).
She gave a list of reasons why- and I was all about it. I was totally on board.
For the first week or so it was fine. My hair definitely didn’t feel silky and smooth, but it looked okay and my hair actually had a little more tooth to it because my hair is normally really fine. It was nice not to have to use product to get it to do- well – anything. This is my hair after 4 days of no shampoo:
Two weeks in I was starting to think that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. My hair was starting to look a little more grungy and it just didn’t feel good at all.
Now I’m at about three weeks in and I had to wash my hair with shampoo. I know that it takes 2-4 weeks to get your hair acclimated, but my vanity just can’t take it any longer. If I could wear baseball caps to church and stuff like that I might try ot hang on another week, but the fact is I’m just really not liking my hair at all and since there’s a quick and easy fix I’m taking it.
I should probably address my non-blogging lately. Nothing’s going on – I’m fine. I’ve just been bored and uninspired and needed a little break. I’m going to try to do 2-3 posts a week and see what happens.
This is my first time to participate in The Inspired Room’s Procrastinators Party and I’m so glad that Melissa is hosting this. I know that if she didn’t my dresser would still be sitting at the top of our stairs holding a bunch of junk. Remember this:
I managed to find a home for all of that stuff (and the reason I have a huge box of fruit snacks and a huge bag of Chex Mix at the top of my stars is because it’s for my son’s school- which I don’t have to take until mid-Nov!! I managed to find a home for it in the kitchen where it should be).
I took the dresser downstairs to my workshop- also known as our garage and got to work. First step was to prime the dresser:
I decided to take the easy/lazy way out and spray paint the dresser. It doesn’t look awesome, but it looks good enough and this is a temporary solution until we get some real bedroom furniture. Right after we replace our 12 year old tv, buy new couches, new flooring throughout the house……
This (below) is the overall look I was going for and by pulling in my son’s dresser I think that I got pretty close. I do need to change the knobs on the smaller dresser- which is on my to-do list.
Overall I’m happy with the look and once I get some accessories to make it look pretty it will look a whole lot better.
I even managed to paint my sad nightstand! It also needs to be accessorized better- and it needs a knob, but at least the hard part if over.
Head over to The Inspired Room to join in on the fun!
When I was asked by Bzz Agent if I wanted to participate in the Softsoap Nutri Serums campaign I was excited to try out a new body wash. I was fascinated by the fact that it contains softening serum pearls. I’ve used serum on my face, but never on my body. Wow- what a difference serum makes! My skin feels so soft and moisturized and it I love the way it smells.
I was able to try both kinds- the restoring with vitamin E and the moistures with omeagas 3 and 6. I really don’t have a favorite they’re both fabulous.
The best thing about Softsoap’s new body wash is the fact that it’s inexpensive (especially for the quality of the product) and you can get it at any major grocery store.
To check out more things that people love head over to The Diaper Diaries.
Baby #1 has been hounding me for about a week to decorate our house for Halloween. We have several houses in our neighborhood that are all decked out for Halloween and Baby #1 wants to do the same thing.
It’s not happening.
I don’t mind trick or treating and dressing up, but I’m not going to spend money to decorate my house for Halloween. There are many things that I could spend that money on- and Halloween decorations will not make the cut.
In a fit of creative genius Baby #1 told me that he was going to decorate his room for Halloween with stuff he has. This is after him telling me- for the past week- that when he turns 18 and has his own house he’s going to totally decorate it for Halloween and it’s even going to have a haunted house, and Hubs and I will not be invited.
I don’t know of many 18 year olds that own their own homes, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Anywho- here are some pictures of his room:
The blue pillowcase is a ghost – just in case you didn’t know.
While he was giving me a tour I took his jacket off of him lamp to take downstairs and he informed me that the jacket was part of the scary stuff.
This is the part that I find scary:
I took a little hiatus from TILT because- well there wasn’t anything I was really loving. But I’m back with a good one.
I am not a routine oriented person. There are only a few things that I routinely do every single day (and yes brushing my teeth is on that list), but one thing I do every single night is drink chamomile tea. I have to share my all time favorite one – Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Extra. Note the extra part- that’s what makes it different from the regular Sleepytime.
I noticed that I actually sleep a lot better when I drink the Sleepytime Extra- over the regular Sleepytime tea. The ST- Extra contains valerian- which promotes relaxation.
Here’s a little snippet from Celestial Seasoning’s website:
Sleepytime Extra® Wellness Tea
Nothing promotes physical and mental well being like a good night’s sleep. So when you need something to help you unwind, enjoy a cup of Sleepytime Extra. This relaxing and delicious herbal tea starts with the time-honored blend of chamomile, spearmint and other soothing herbs found in our beloved Sleepytime® tea. We then add valerian, trusted as a sleep aid since the days of the Greeks and Romans because of its mild sedative properties. The result is a tea with the trusted calming effect and great taste of Sleepytime, plus just a little “extra” to gently lull you to sleep. †
I actually sleep about as well using this tea as I do when I take an actual sleeping pill. This is some seriously good stuff!
Head over to The Diaper Diaires to check out more things that people love- or to see her super cute baby boy.
I usually have half a dozen projects around the house that I really want to get done. I used to blame the fact that I couldn’t do anything because my kids were always around, but I can’t use that excuse anymore because they’re in school now.
My girls only go a few days a week, but after rambling around a few hours today I saw that Melissa at The Inspired Room is holding a Procrastinator’s Party and that’s just the jumpstart that I need to get some stuff done.
I’m not going to get all wild and crazy. If I finish one project I’ll be happy- I might tackle two, but we’ll just see.
The thing that I really want to do is paint this dresser:
I know it looks so good at the top of our stairs holding all of the junk that doesn’t have a home. Including snacks for my son’s Kindergarten class that I don’t have to take until November.
My plan is to move the dresser into the master bedroom and I’m going for this look:
My son has a dresser in his room that looks similar to the taller dresser. I’ll just take it from his room move it to our room and find something else to hold his clothes.
And if I get adventurous I’ll also tackle the nightstand while I”m at it:
If nothing else it might motivate me to replace/change the hideous lamp I’ve had for way way too long.
I’ve already got the dresser primed as I type this post up so it might just get done! I have two weeks to finish so stay tuned.
Since Hubs, my brother-in-law, and Baby #3 all have September birthdays we just do one big family dinner to celebrate all of them. This year my mom offered to treat us to a local restaurant that has a patio with an actual beach area. It’s an awesome place to take kids. If you don’t mind coming home with a car full of sand that is.
When we took a family trip to Virginia Beach over a year ago Baby #3 HATED the beach. This is what she looked like the whole time we were there:
Good times.
Apparently she no longer hates the beach. In fact she LOVES it. She loved it so much that she spent half the time making sand angels.
I took the opportunity to have a picture taken of Hubs and me:
Cousins and bestfriends:
The kids loved playing in the sand:
One child in a ballerina outfit and the other in rain boots:
My photogenic Baby #2:
Oh wait- this is the picture I meant to post:
When we were all done eating Hubs decided to go geocaching. Oh yes – his new addiction knows no bounds. He actually looked up some sites around the restaurant before we left and saw that there’s one right there! He even got my mom sucked in.
Sorry the pictures aren’t that great. That’s because I was stuck way back in the parking lot in the van with two girls with nothing to do, but sit in the hot car and wait for 30 minutes while they looked around for the cache. I’m not bitter or anything.
Overall it was a great birthday celebration and it makes me so thankful for my wonderful family.
Annalise, Annie, Lisey, Baby Ace, and Baby. You are a girl with many names and yesterday you turned three. I cannot believe how quickly you are growing up. It seems like you went from baby to little girl over night. It seems like just yesterday when I had to protect you from your, sometimes, over zealous brother and sister and now I have to, sometimes, protect them from you! You have learned to hold your own.
You are such a girly girl. You wear dress up dresses about 90% of the time. You love playing with Barbies- and actaully insist that your name is Barbie sometimes. It’s been so much fun watching you and your sister grow into friends.
I love you so much Baby Girl and can’t wait to see all of the wonderful things God has in store for you. You are so precious to your daddy and me!
Happy third birthday Annalise!
